The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for collecting data to analyze a person's performance in a sport, and more particularly to a method and apparatus to collect data tracking the movement of a golf that has been struck or hit.
Hand-held devices for collecting data regarding a golf round are known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,740,077 to Reeves; 5,779,566 to Mullins; and 5,664,880 to Johnson et al., disclose hand-held devices equipped with GPS receivers that can store the position of a golf ball at the beginning and end of each golf stroke. Some of these devices can display distance to the green or other feature as an aid to the golfer during play. Some of these devices also include processors that analyze the golfer's performance and provide performance results to the user. For example, some such devices will give the golfer the average distance for each club used by the golfer. While the golfing computers known in the art are useful, there are no known golfing computers that provide accurate information regarding the flight path or motion of the ball. At most, prior art devices show the starting and ending points for each stroke but do not show the path traveled by the ball in getting from the starting point to the ending point. It would be useful if information regarding the flight path or path of travel of the ball could be recorded for subsequent use by the golfer in analyzing a round of golf.